Andarian Noble's Rebellion

Military action

Half of Andaria's nobles rebel against King Arencall due to the political and economic ramifications of his planned expansion of the professional army. The Rosehold Treaty nations support the rebels and attack Andaria, plunging the realm into a desperate war on all fronts.

After the fifth goblinoid invasion, King Arencall plans a large expansion of the standing professional army. Fearing the effects of this expenditure on an already depressed economy and the power the king will then wield over them, half of Andria's nobles openly rebel against King Arencall. It is revealed that driving forces behind the rebellion are from the Rosehold Treaty as their combined armies of 12,000 men lay siege to Castle Crown five days later.   Publicly the Roseold Treaty kingdoms are supporting the rebels rights to self-determination, however their ill intent is clear as the kingdoms had their armies marshaled prior to the rebellion. The entry of the Rosehold Treaty into the conflict effectively fixed the professional troops guarding the borders in place, preventing them from joining the central army and the mustered forces of the Andarian loyalists. The armies were also reduced in strength after fighting off the fifth goblinoid invasion leaving only 2,000 professional soldiers in the interior of Andaria.   The rebels and loyalists were spread throughout the realm resulting in dozens of small battles between barons, knights and their retinues of men at arms and levies over the next to months. Most of the north had fallen under the rebels influence, the south to the loyalists, the west was in utter chaos as it seemed every baron and knight in the region swore fealty to either the rebels or to the crown in an almost alternating pattern. The loyalists managed to assemble 8,000 troops in Highbridge and stepped off towards Ansveil, a city who's duke had sided with the rebels. Ansveil was largely undefended as the knights and men at arms had almost entirely left to muster with one of the armies. The loyalist army took the city unopposed and learned that the Duke of Ansveil had taken his men and marched north after razing the outlying town of Crystalbrook for remaining loyal to the crown. The keep at Crystalbrook was still besieged by 200 of the rebels.   The loyalist army reached Crystalbrook the following day. The rebels surrendered upon seeing the large force arrive. Sir Barat, the knight leading the levies and men at arms in the siege was summarily stripped of his titles and executed by King Arencall. The men at arms and levies under his command chose to join the loyalist army. The army then marched on Krestyl, having their east flank secured.   During the army's march north, an Morilhanian naval raid sacked the city of Fairport. Archduke Galifare conscripted the Andarian vessels in port at Wyrmgate and loaded the ships with as many levies as he can raise. Gaining 200 ships and 900 levies, in addition to the 50 vessels with 600 marines the crown already had in port. The fleet then sails for Baylight and catches Morilhan's fleet in port unloading the spoils of the sacking of Fairport. The forward vessels rammed the trailing Morilhanian ships, keeping them bottled up in the harbour. The second line of Andarian ships held the professional marines who boarded and seized the other Morilhanian vessels, clearing the way for the transport ships carrying the levies.   The levies offload at the harbour and storm the city, led by the professional marines. The brutal street to street urban fighting lasted an entire day and night before the Baylight garrison was defeated. The Andarians proceeded to sack the city and torch sections of it. The end of the next day the Andarians set off with 20 more vessels than they had arrived with, all loaded with loot.   As the Andarian army reached Krestyl they prepared to assault the city. However only a few weeks later scouts reported a large rebel force marching South. The estimated numbers of 14,000 had the loyalists badly outnumbered by the advancing rebels. King Arencall made the decision to withdraw to Highbridge to meet with additional forces being raised. The army began to retreat south. The 500 strong garrison of Krestyl joined the rebel army as they advanced rapidly, forgoing supply lines for speed. In doing so they caught the loyalist army at Lakely Farm, immediately north of a small river that had only a single small bridge to cross it, trapping the loyalists between the river and the rebel army.   King Arencall drew up his army on the face of a gentle hill where he had the longbowmen on his flanks and had them drive sharpened steaks into the ground. In the center he had his professional soldiers flanked by the dismounted men at arms. His mounted men at arms and knights were also dismounted and formed into a second line. The rebels drew up their army as well on the fields northeast of the hills. At dawn a horn erupted from the rebel lines and the confident rebels marched their 10,000 levies into the field, intending for them to engage and pin the loyalist line in place with overwhelming numbers.   The loyalist's army however was almost two thirds longbowmen and at great range the archers loosed their arrows into the advancing rebel formation. The arrows took a terrible toll on the levies. The elevation of the hills giving them range on the rebel archers trying to move into position. The rebels were killed in their thousands by the withering onslaught of longbow arrows. Several thousand of the levies broke and fled back towards the rebel lines after only a couple minutes of the archer fire. The mounted knights and men at arms of the rebels then charged into their own retreating men, killing them for the display of cowardice.   This took much of the momentum from their charge however and the scene was repeated as the arrows collided with the heavily armoured knights and horses with tremendous force. Penetrating armour of man and horse alike, the longbow volleys killed thousands before the exhausted rebel host even arrived at the loyalist line. Meeting with the well armed and armoured men of the loyalists the levies were cut down, creating mounds of the dead infront of the loyalist line. However the vast number of men in the fray eventually pushed the loyalist main line back under it's sheer weight, the front men being pushed onto the spears of the loyalists. The archers continued to volley arrows into the rebels until they were out of arrows. The archers then drew swords and hefted axes, then closed on the rebel flanks.   The loyalist second line was committed to the battle halfway through the day with King Arencall leading the advance, reliving the exhausted men on the first line. During the fierce melee a rebel levy managed to penetrate the mail of King Arencall's armour, driving his billhook in deep into the king's side. King Arencall continued fighting despite the grievous wound. At the end of the day, the soldiers from the first line were recommitted to the battle and eventually at sundown, the loyalists had won, capturing 5,000 of the rebels, including 300 knights who survived the battle. The knights were executed and the levies and men at arms joined the loyalist army after the wounded king gave an impassioned speech reminding them that foreign soldiers still lay siege to Castle Crown at that moment. Despite losing almost 3,000 men, the loyalist army left the Battle of Lakely Farm with more men than they came with. Pausing only a couple days to strip the battlefield of valuables and see to the wounded the loyalist army marched north again to secure Krestyl and Arengrove.   Krestyl was taken after only a week as almost it's entire garrison had joined the army that fought at the Battle of Lakely Farm. King Arencall, against the advice of his physicians continued to lead the army in campaign in the field trusting instead the cleric who traveled with him to heal his wounds. Upon arriving at Arengrove the army mounted an all out assault, gaining the walls and the city in a bloody battle. Upon reaching the castle the army simply left 1,500 troops behind to siege it and marched back south. More than two weeks later, the army arrived at Highbridge, where they were joined by another 3,000 troops. King Arencall had the Crown Prince Armior II lead 2,000 of the troops into the western region and begin unifying the splintered groups of loyalists and crushing the splintered groups of rebels.   King Arencall then led the 11,000 remaining men to Castle Crown, arriving in another two weeks. The allied Rosehold Treaty army besieging the Castle withdrew before they could be trapped between Andaria's eastern army and the main force advancing on them. Lifting the siege of Castle Crown just as the first snows begun to fall for the winter.   That winter, King Arencall succumbed to the wound he sustained at the Battle of Lakely Farm and passed away. It was discovered that the cleric who was responsible for healing him instead was a rebel sympathizer and betrayed the king by slowly killing him each time he used his healing magic. He was succeeded by Armior II who begun raising reinforcements and ensured that when spring came, an army of 22,000 were ready to march with him. The army was made up of fresh troops and soldiers or men at arms who's wounds have healed during the winter. As soon as the snows melted off the roads, the army was mustered at Ansveil. The Andarian army marched on Acrana, taking 2,000 men from the eastern army with them, swelling the army to 24,000 men. The army reached Acrana in early spring and drew up siege lines, as they did an Andarian naval blockade went up preventing evacuation or resupply by sea.   A month into the siege an Erenian naval force attempted to break the blockade. A pitched sea battle was fought, however only 4 ships managed to break through the blockade and were unable to escape it. An estimated 27 Erenian vessels were captured and 13 sunk while only 15 Andarian ships were lost. The food from the 4 ships that broke through was little more than a month's worth for the city and the Rosehold Treaty's naval forces were spent.   Another month passed a combined allied force of 28,000 arrived, led by King Everard of Erenia along with the Crown Prince of Vannack Reinfrid. The Andarian spies however had long fed the information to the Andarian army giving them ample time to prepare the field. Ditches were dug, steaks were emplaced and caltrops were sewn across the northern fields. King Armior II had ample time to choose a ground for them to fight on and made the most of the time, carefully selecting the high ground on two hills to place his battle lines on. Leaving 4,000 to guard the city exits against sorties, he formed up the remaining 20,000 men on the grassy hills outside Acrana as the allied force marched onto the field.   Using a similar tactic as his father at the Battle of Lakely Farm, Armior II put his archers on the hills with sharpened wooden steaks infront of them, in a pattern to canalize the enemy into the center between the hills where the heavy infantry were waiting. The first line consisted of a shieldwall in the front with rows of pikes extending past them. The second line consisting of men with poleaxes, greataxes, lucerne hammers and other heavy two handed weapons. 3,000 heavy cavalry consisting of both professional heavy cavalry and knights waited in the rear. The south hill was tied into the siege lines for the city with fortifications manned by the troops guarding the city gates. The fields to the north of the northern hill were sewn thick with caltrops.   Having nobles who observed the devastating effects of the longbows at the Battle of Lakely Farm the Rosehold army made much more cautious opening moves. Moving crossbowmen to the fore under cover of pavises. Using the large pavise as cover from return fire the heavy crossbows started shooting the longbowmen who were lacking any form of cover. The return fire from the longbows only inflicted light casualties and was ineffective. Watching his archers take casualties without being able to answer back King Armior II sent directions to his front lines of infantry. At this point the drilling and training for a full time professional army became apparent as they efficiently separated to make a path for the cavalry to charge through. The sortie of heavy cavalry took a volley of crossbow bolts, receiving casualties prior to crashing into the field of archers before they could retreat. As the Rosehold heavy cavalry rode forth, having to ride around their center formation, the Andarian cavalry withdrew, having dealt a crushing blow to the crossbowmen on the field who were all either dead or routing. The Andarian cavalry withdrew behind the infantry lines that closed behind them, presenting their pikes.   A volley of longbow arrows crashed into the Rosehold cavalry as they came within range. Before they could sustain further casualties the cavalry withdrew. The Rosehold forces reorganized their routing crossbowmen and put them on the flanks of their lines. This initial skirmish concluded, the Rosehold forces withdrew entirely for the night. After strategizing during the night King Everard deployed the forces for battle again. The Andarians having slept in their positions were rested and prepared.   Intending to divide the deadly longbow's fire instead of having their lines cut to pieces as the rebels had at Lakely Farm, the main line of levy infantry advanced at the same time the cavalry advanced from the north with the obvious intent of flanking the archers on the north hill. Hoping to divide the archer fire or at least draw out Andaria's cavalry, the Rosehold cavalry instead entered the field of caltrops. The 5,000 Rosehold cavalry were put into a state of chaos as knights and mounted men at arms were bucked from their horses and trampled under hooves as yet other horses fell, rolling over their riders. As the Rosehold cavalry formation dissolved, the Andarian archers volleyed arrows straight into the Rosehold infantry, heavily disrupting the formation and causing massive casualties.   The Rosehold infantry reached the Andarian line eventually, however with the disrupted formation the levies were mostly impaled upon the wall of pikes with the front ranks being driven into them from the mass of bodies at the rear trying to escape the withering hail of longbow shafts. Return fire from the surviving crossbows inflicted light casualtes on the longbowmen as they positioned themselves behind the Rosehold infantry, protected behind their pavises. For several long hours it seemed as if the Battle of Lakely Farm would simply play itself out on a much larger scale as the Rosehold army was falling apart under the Andarian bows until a skirmish broke out in the rear of the Andarian lines. A few dozen rangers were being engaged by a force of several hundred light infantry who had evidently marched around the caltrop field and were advancing on the rear Andarian lines. In the distance it also appeared that the Rosehold cavalry had extricated themselves from the field of caltrops and had followed the light infantry's path, rapidly closing on the Andarian rear lines.   Taking as many men with polearms from the second line as possible, the Andarian second line formed another line to the rear, however was not large enough to cover the longbowmen on the hills. Again the well drilled and trained Andarian army proved it's worth, as the men from the second line moved to protect the exposed archers' rear and the rear ranks of the center turned around, forming a long thin, rectangular formation as the commanders entered the center to direct the battle. With this, King Armior II took out his hunting horn and rode to the front of his cavalry. Having a small banner mounted on a lance, king Armior led his knights and heavy cavalry out from the formation towards the embattled rangers desperately fighting to give the Andarian lines the time to reform before being engaged. The heavy Andarian cavalry sent the light infantry running when the Rosehold infantry saw the large formation deploy towards them. Only nine rangers survived, fighting in a shrinking hollow square expecting a last stand as the Rosehold infantry broke. Taking the opportunity the rangers withdrew back to the Andarian siege lines.   The Andarian cavalry then swung out and in to meet the Rosehold cavalry at an angle, attempting to drive them into the caltrop field. Despite the heavy casualties and the los of morale in the first ill fated charge, the Rosehold cavalry still outnumbered the Andarian cavalry by a thousand. The Andarian charge into the Rosehold flank was met by the formation on the right turning to meet them as the left flank continued straight towards the rear of the Andarian army. The division of the Rosehold cavalry was a gambit as the 2,000 cavalry against the Andarian cavalry were locked into a chaotic fight against an enemy with superior numbers and equipment, however could pin them in position, preventing them from being used elsewhere. The 2,000 cavalry that continued towards the Andarian line led by Crown Prince Reinfrid were faced with a choice of trying to charge uphill into the still forming Andarian lines and into the devastating longbows at the summit, or to try breaking the Andarian center, bristling with prepared pikes.   As the Rosehold cavalry assaulted the rear of the Andarian lines, the Acranian garrison sortied and charged out of their north gate. If the Rosehold cavalry attacked the siege lines at that time, they would have pinned the 2,000 Andarian troops manning the siege line at the north gate between themselves and the 2,200 troops of the Acrana garrison. The palisade wall sections erected as forts on the siege lines blocked their field of vision however and in the rush of the cavalry charge, none of the cavalry knew about the sortie by the garrison. Choosing to charge uphill to silence the longbows and catch the Andarians while forming their line rather than into the prepared pike wall of the center the Rosehold cavalry rode straight to the south hill.   The Andarian second line was caught out of position, however they stopped and turned to face the cavalry charge with their polearms taking the front rank, blunting the cavalry charge. Several ranks of Andarian longbowmen arrived at the rear hill face at this time, loosing volleys of arrows into the advancing Rosehold cavalry. The cavalry charge inflicts casualties on the Andarians, taking heavy casualties in return however as many of the cavalry are bogged down in a melee. Several dozen of the cavalry bypass the out of position Andarians however and ride into the longbows. Having loosed a final volley into the cavalry, killing over half of them, the archers dropped their bows and drew their sidearms. The score of remaining cavalry managed to inflict terrible casualties on the archers as swords and axes are poor weapons against mounted foes, however the archers refused to break as they were the only thing standing between the cavalry and a downhill charge into the rear of the other longbows on the reverse slope of the hill. They stood, fought and died in their dozens, halting the cavalry however.   Able to see that the Andarian second line had withdrew to engage his cavalry in the rear, King Everard ordered the remainder of his army to advance into the longbow's front with the intent of engaging them to ensure they could not continue to loose arrows into the Rosehold army. The advancing troops took heavy casualties as they did, however it took focus away from the center, which began to press on the thin and exhausted Andarian line. The rear ranks of the center line began to turn back around to bolster the front, however the cavalry on the hill disengaged and rode down to strike at them, forcing the Andarian rear to hold their position. This allowed the force protecting the archers' rear on the south hill to position themselves and send relief to the embattled archers. The troops on the hills then divided their forces again to rush a defense on the archers' fronts against the advancing Rosehold infantry.   With the Andarian line spread dangerously thin across the entire front and rear, the center was being pushed back and the Rosehold cavalry charges were beginning to puncture through the lines as the sun set below the horizon. As the archers began to run low on arrows on the hills they were starting to become desperate. However, through the darkness the Andarian heavy cavalry could be seen returning, King Armior II at their head, the unmistakable flame of Oath's Razor held aloft. As the Rosehold infantry met the thin line of infantry protecting the archers the Andarian force protecting the east gate siege lines sallied out of their palisade fortifications. These fresh forces caught the Rosehold forces off guard. The archers on the north hill ran out of arrows completely and drew their melee weapons, charging into the flank of the Rosehold center. The arrival of these fresh forces broke the Rosehold army and they retreated into the night.   The exhausted Andarian army could not pursue however and the Rosehold army was able to reform during the night. The Rosehold army had suffered catastrophic casualties in the fighting, however the Andarian army had taken heavy casualties and was almost completely out of arrows, removing their most potent weapon. King Everard could only field 700 cavalry, having lost the remainder in the gambit on the Andarian rear. Crown Prince Reinfrid was captured by Andaria and only 10,000 infantry remained. Refusing to concede defeat, King Everard marched his almost completely destroyed and exhausted army around the caltrop field prior to sunrise.   Removing the advantage of the prepared defensive positions by attacking the rear of the line, the Rosehold forces still had to fight into the Andarian center or up hill. As the sky began to glow with the first hints of a rising run, the Rosehold army advanced. As the Rosehold infantry advanced the Andarian longbowmen loosed five volleys into them before running out of arrows completely as the darkness of the night made it difficult to recover arrows from the field. As the armies met the sun crested the horizon in the east. The rising sun shone directly into the eyes of the Rosehold army, blinding them as they tried to fight. As the amries fought, the Andarian archers entered the brutal melee on the flanks. The rangers reported to Armior II mid morning that the Rosehold camp was lightly defended by a skeleton crew of guards. As such he gave the order for 1,000 cavalry to pillage the camp, keeping 1,000 in reserve as almost a thousand were killed of wounded in the previous day's fighting. Almost the entirety of the Rosehold army's supplies were captured without a single casualty as the demoralized Rosehold levies at the camp surrendered without a fight.   The Rosehold army crumbled as the sun directly in their eyes inhibited their ability to fight. Coupled with the exhaustion and the low morale due to the losses of the previous day, the army fled. King Everard tried to rally the routing force, however was struck by one of his own fleeing men at arms and injured. With that, the Battle of Acrana Hills was over. The losses to the Rosehold forces were enormous; from a force of 28,000 only 7,000 returned home with the rest either killed or captured.   With Crown Prince Reinfrid being held by Andaria and blaming Everard for the disastrous losses, Vannack withdrew it's forces from the campaign, citing they were needed at Echoskeep to fight orcs who had come through the Beastwoods after being driven from Andaria the previous year. With Vannack's support for the campaign withdrawn, King Everard looked west for reinforcements, at Morilhan. However there was insufficient naval capabilities remaining in either Morilhan or Eldarheen/Erenia to ferry an army across the Tradesea, past Andaria. King Everard in despair begain rebuilding his army nearly from scratch, incurring great expense. He also sent diplomats to King Armior II in an attempt to strike a peace agreement. Armior II sent the diplomats back with an Andarian flag and instructions to hang it above Vessonia. Without an army, navy or powerful enough allies, Everard could only wait for the inevitable.   On October 15th, Acrana surrendered as the people began to die of starvation. King Armior II looked at the city and decided not to take and occupy it, citing the expense of maintaining a garrison in the city would be too great on the already indebted kingdom's treasury. Instead the army marched in and sacked the city. The ships in port were taken, the duke was taken to be ransomed, the treasury was cleaned out, the homes were all plundered and after taking every item of value that could be found the buildings were put to the torch. It would be over a century before Acrana would recover from this. The devastation of Acrana depressed the economies of Vannack and Eldarheen by depriving them of the trade that used to flow through the city. To a lesser extent the sack of Baylight had a similar effect on Morilhan.   In stark contrast to the Rosehold nations, the wealth plundered from Acrana and Baylight during the conflict reinvigorated the Andarian economy, bringing them out of the depression that the late king Arencall had driven the kingdom into. With the loss of nearly half the nobles in Andaria, King Armior II elevated several people who distinguished themselves in the conflict to nobility. He also expanded many of the holdings of the lords who remained loyal to include the now lordless regions of Andaria. Andaria never again would field the same number of knights on the field as the number of nobility shrank. The final conclusion of the hostilities were formalized a year later as the nobles and soldiers of the Rosehold kingdoms were ransomed back to their homes and the last of the rebellious nobles were executed.